Form, line and phenomenology occupy central positions in Caleb Shea’s work, where transcendental geometric abstraction and blunt simplicity meet in a newly charged revision of the late-modernist sculptural tradition. His neo-formalist sculptural investigations combine with modes of experiential spatial configurations to celebrate a return to sincerity and romance of the shape.
Shea studied toward a Bachelor of Visual Arts, University of Newcastle, 1995-7 and graduated from a Bachelor of Fine Art (Sculpture), RMIT, 2006, a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours), RMIT, 2009 and a Master of Visual Arts, Victorian College of the Arts, 2011. Selected exhibitions include For Goodness SAKE, Utopian Slumps, Melbourne, 2014; Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2013, Sydney Contemporary, with Thomas Jeppe, presented by Utopian Slumps, Sydney, 2013; The Peasants are Revolting, curated by Linda Michael, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2012-13; XTYO, Utopian Slumps, Melbourne, 2012; X + Drawing, with Julia Francis, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne, 2012; Link VI, with Marco Cher-Gibard, RMIT School of Art Gallery, Melbourne, 2012; VCA Masters Graduate Exhibition, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, 2011; Exercise in Sophistication, with Thomas Jeppe, Utopian Slumps, Melbourne, 2011; Insert Coin Here, Craft Victoria, 2010; Popocatepetl, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne, 2010; Scale of mark, RMIT First Site Gallery, Melbourne, 2009; Model for Abundant, Australian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, 2008; Two-Fold Exhibition, George Paton Gallery, The University of Melbourne, 2007; and The Fourth Baldessin Foundation Travelling Fellowship Exhibition, Faculty Gallery, Monash University, 2004. Shea was recipient of The Fourth Baldessin Foundation Travelling Fellowship in 2004 and the National Gallery of Victoria Women’s Association Masters Award in 2011. His work is held in the Artbank and Joyce Nissan Collections and various private collections in Australia.
